2134/8571
Matthew Inglis
Matthew
Inglis
Juan P. Mejia-Ramos
Juan P.
Mejia-Ramos
The effect of authority on the persuasiveness of mathematical arguments
Loughborough University
2011
untagged
2011-07-05 12:39:36
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/The_effect_of_authority_on_the_persuasiveness_of_mathematical_arguments/9370658
Three experiments are reported which investigate the extent to which an authority figure
influences the level of persuasion undergraduate students and research-active mathematicians
invest in mathematical arguments. We demonstrate that, in some situations, both students and
researchers rate arguments as being more persuasive when they are associated with an expert
mathematician than when the author is anonymous. We develop a model which accounts for
these data by suggesting that, for both students and researchers, an authority figure only plays a
role when there is already some uncertainty about the argument’s mathematical status.
Implications for pedagogy, and for future research, are discussed.